Links to Topic/Section Below	Link to According Section in the Outline
Introduction Research Purpose Importance Image Conclusion Working Notes	Introduction Research Purpose Importance Image Conclusion N/A

Introduction

  The end of my first visit to the Free Library of Philadelphia coincided with the closing of the Library for the evening. The chimes announcing the impending time echoed through the halls of the Library, sounding very similar to those of a grandfather clock. Descending the grand staircase from the second floor to the Entrance Hall on the first, I was surprised and then amused to see a member of the Library's staff standing in a corner at the base of the imposing staircase. He was alternately peering at a sheet of paper posted on the wall and striking the cylindrical metal chimes, found in the adjacent plywood cabinet, whose ringing sounds I had been admiring moments before.

  Hearing the musical progression of notes reverberating through the Library, and then seeing the staff member manning the chimes, made me consider what message the Library was attempting to convey, and how the presentation of the Free Library of Philadelphia presented a particular ideology. What is the purpose of the library: whom is it serving, and what services are provided? What sort of image do we have of the Library, from the building as a whole or individual floors and departments, when interpreted through the messages one receives via issues of accessibility, physical layout and differing levels of ornamention within the Library and in the surrounding area?

Research

  My analysis of the FLP covered five days in September, spending a total of about 12-15 hours on or around the premises. I first visited on a Friday from 4:45pm until closing, 6pm, next a Sunday in mid-afternoon for a couple of hours, and finally a consecutive Wednesday, Thursday and Friday from early-mid afternoon to between 5 and 7pm.

  I spend my first day (and part of subsequent days) with the architectural and historical records of the Free Library of Philadelphia; the majority of the third and forth days were spent taking pictures of the inside, outside, and area surrounding the building. It was quite pleasant experiencing how willing so many of the staff members, from library security guards to the Head of the Rare Book Department, were willing to talk to me about any part of the library. In fact, once I assured one guard, John Kahn, that I was definately not a professional photographer, he and I had quite a nice conversation about photography and his desire to build a darkroom in his home, and we ended up exchanging pleasantries every time we passed one another on my various visits. Another guard noticed the camera (an excellent ice breaker) and struck up a conversation as we rode together in an elevator down from the third floor; he, too, expressed the enjoyment he received from working in such an aesctetically pleasing environment.

  One of the librarians in the Art & Architecture Department, when I mentioned my project, was quite eager to volunteer aid, providing me with the phone number and name of the Rare Book Department's Head (since the Department was located on the third floor), and commented, "Whenever I'm having a bad day, I just look up, and think, Hey, it's not so bad." I even spotted a few bi-college students in the library on my first visit, and asked them why they had come and if they visited frequently; only their first visit, they came for a change of pace.

Purpose

• What is the purpose of the library?
• What services are offered by the library?
• Who are the library's patrons? Whom is the library targeting?
• Have we lost sight of the purpose of the library?
• Who is responsible for the library's goals today?
• How did these goals arise? Have they been successfully attained?
• Has the library staff put themselves or the patrons first in terms of service? If themselves, how? If the patrons, how?
• What is the attitude of the staff? Towards the patrons? Towards the building?
• How has the renovation of the building and the third floor in particular changed its function in relation to its surrounding environment (internally and externally)?

• started in 3 rooms in city hall, grand from william pepper to start.
• ow in this building
  • gabriel, architect, place de la concorde, france.
  • twin next door.
• renovation of 3rd flr.

• philadelphians
• international/national patrons
  • english visitors in RBD
  • 1,200 per yr.

• web site
• general library (books etc.)
• auditorium
• other exhibits
• workshops
• computers/ (text-based) internet access

• mission statement of the library.
• serving philadelphias
• patrons v. staff: staircase issue.
• good/large library, lots of books, CDs, usw.
• auditorium-- provides other types of education/knowledge
• exhibitions (seen in RBD, change every 3 months)
• resume writing workshops, etc.

• "And yet, in spite of its deficiencies, the Library means something very important, something very tangible to the citizens of Philadelphia. Pages might be written about the intellectual opportunities it offers to those unable to get an education through orthodox channels, about its value to students, about its service as a community center.

  But the best as well as the briefest proof of its necessity lies in the attendance statistics for 1938. During a year when even the movies complained of lack of audiences, the Library and its 34 sub-stations attracted 3,744,592 men, women, and children.

  Certainly, when over three million people find a thing good, there must be adequate reason as to why it should be continued."
  -- "Parkway Paradox." Arts in Philadelphia, Vol 2, Jan 1940.

• Rare book department: the guest book contains the names of visitors (within a couple of days of my visit) from international locales: England, for example. A tourist attraction, but not often frequented or well-known, it seems.
• The FLoP fronts Vine St., which means it marks one of the original boundaries of Philadelphia.
• As a boundary, however, it sits close to the Ben Franklin Parkway along Logan Square, a well-known and better kept section of town.
• Wood Street (and subsequently Callowhill St.) directly behind the FLoP
• Place de la Concorde, Paris, France. Modeled after one of the two buildings along the Rue Royale. * Its identical twin stands beside the FLoP.
  

• How does the Library stand in relation to its surroundings?
• How is it influenced by/how does it influence the surrounding locale?
• What does the accessibility, both physically and in regards to the dates and times various sections are accessible, say about the importance of various library departments?
  

• back staircase, for staff use only (why?) this staircase leads to the hallway now taken over as office space. so patrons have to go up to the 4th floor, down to third to get to TD, so staff can have easier (fancier?) access to their "offices."
• 2nd to 4th to 3rd floor, backwards 3rd to 4th to 2nd floor to get out.
• TD being so out-of-the-way, whereas RBD is comparatively accessible
• 3rd floor (and up) in general only accessible M-F 9-5pm, now also sundays as well (Oct. 18th on..)
• RBD books can't really be used. have to ring a bell to get into the D in the first place. supervised usage if at all. Elkins room has to be specifically unlocked. books in glass cases. more for conferences, less reading. See Purpose" section.

• RBD vs. TD: what does the physical setup/maintenance/atmosphere say about which is more valued? RBD is beautiful, TD looks like i walked into someone's claustrophobic office.
• 1st and 2nd (and ground?) and half of 3rd flr vs other half of 3rd & 4th.
• Importance of building being presentable: front is way better than back, although we see the back too. "Image."

• conformity to "image."
• front by logan square, nice facade, all sides generally nice, but south/front face the best.
• relation to city *blocks*-- not-so-nice to the rear, logan square, nice to the front.
• relation to city as a destination/thing: by museum, franklin institute: culture, education, high art, usw.

Presented Image

• How does the image we are presented affect our perception of the library?
• What is being implied or encouraged through the use of this image of the library?
• Have they unconsciously internalized their own value system as to the importance (or lack thereof) of various library departments, and permitted the presented image of the Library to reflect these value judgements?
  

• stairwell chimes: a staff member hit the chimes in a closet on the staircase which sounded like a grandfather clock. Seeing him watch the sheet figuring out which metal cylinders to hit is very different than the grand sound of hearing the notes echo through the library.
• RBD
  • grandfather clocks-- when i asked about them, Bill Lang said that they were often donated to the library: this is the only place they "fit"/ look good.
  • B. Lang said people (other depts?) always think the RBD is rich because of how they look (image they present?). Rich surroundings, carefully preserved Elkins library.
• Pepper's statue on stairway landing
• Grand-looking entrance hall, marble floor, usw. (etc.)
• elevators: green marble interior elevators, iron filigree exterior on 2nd, 3rd floor (by RBD)... 4th floor, in comparison, old and ugly, like a 1970's cafeteria.
• rear of the building vs the front of the building: lack of a scene depicted in the portico (?). See "surroundings" Section.
• staircase from 1st to 2nd floor versus back stairway from 4th to 3rd. grand and beautiful and powerful versus old and crumbling.

Conclusion

Working Notes

FLoP = free library of philly)
RBD = Rare Book Department)
TD = theater dept.)

My main focus seems to be on the IMAGE presented to the public, the ACCESSIBILITY of the building and its contents, the RELATIVE IMPORTANCE of the portions of the third floor to eachother as well as the third floor in relation to the upper/lower floors, and how as indicated by the IMAGE presented, and how the IMAGE connects to the SURROUNDINGS.

To a lesser extent I want to incorporate the HISTORY of the library and the building, discuss the SERVICES OFFERED in relation to the PURPOSE set forth by the library, and perhaps quickly mention something regarding which persons qualify as PATRONS and include commentary on employee FEEDBACK. I'm especially unsure, however, of how to include the last two.